Surnames: Thompson, Markle, Jack, Carothers/Caruthers, Potter, Shepler, Niccolls
Jasper Markle Thompson was one of the men that Fayette county delighted to honor. He was one of that useful class of men in every State whose patriotism, integrity, intelligence, and usefulness give stability to society, prosperity and progress to its business affairs.He was born near Washington, Mason county, Kentucky, August 30, 1822, and was the youngest son of Andrew Finley Thompson and Leah Markle Thompson.
He is of Scotch Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. His ancestors on both sides fled from the "old world" on account of their religious convictions and found shelter in the colonial lands of Pennsylvania early in the eighteenth century.
His paternal grandfather came from the Cumberland Valley to near Mt Pleasant, Westmoreland county, Penna. He married Mary Jack, daughter of John Jack, who was prominent in drafting the Hannastown Declaration of Independence in 1775. He moved to Kentucky and was a comrade in arms of Boone. He died in Mason county of that State.
Andrew Finley Thompson was born in Kentucky in 1791, and served as a soldier with three of his brothers in the War of 1812. He was taken prisoner at Hull's disgraceful surrender, and after being released traveled on foot from the wilds of Michigan to the home of his relatives in Westmoreland county, Penna. He wedded Miss Leah Markle of Westmoreland county, the youngest of Gasper Markle's twenty two children.
Gasper Markle was a native of Berks county and settled in Westmoreland county toward the close of the French and Indian War. His father, upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, fled from Alsace in 1686, and went to Amsterdam where he engaged in business until 1703. In the same year he removed to Berks county, Penna.
A F Thompson with his young bride returned to Kentucky where Mrs Thompson died in 1823, and was soon followed to the grave by her husband. They were the parents of three children: William L Thompson, who died at twenty years of age; Mary Thompson, wife of J P Carothers of this county,
who died in 1865; and Jasper M Thompson.Jasper M Thompson, after his parents' death when less than three years of age, was taken to Westmoreland county and lived with his grandmother, Mary Markle, until her death in 1832 when he engaged with his cousin, General Cyrus P Markle.
After twelve years of varied and useful experience in farming, clerking, and bookkeeping, he removed in 1850 to Redstone township. He purchased a part of the Walters farm near New Salem, but in the same year bought and removed to a farm in Menallen township, two and one half miles from Uniontown where he farmed and dealthin livestock until 1862.
President Lincoln appointed him collector of internal revenue for the Twenty first district of Pennsylvania. After serving efficiently for four years, he resigned and retired from the office with the respect and good will of all with whom he came in contact.
He was one of the original stockholders (1863) of the First National Bank of Uniontown, and of which he was a director from 1863 to 1870 and president from 1870 until his death. He was also president of the Uniontown Building and Loan Association, a director in the FayetteCounty Agricultural Association, a trustee of Washington and Jefferson College, and a director in Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny City.
In 1873 the citizens of Fayette county elected him to the legislature by 1,031 majority on the republican ticket. The democratic majority in the county at that time was about 1,000. He was elected in 1868 as a republican presidential elector, and cast his vote for General Grant.
He was married in 1846 to Miss Eliza Caruthers, youngest daughter of Samuel Caruthers of Sewickley township, Westmoreland county, Penna, a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church. Mr Caruthers' mother was a daughter of Lieutenant John Potter, and her brother, General James
Potter, was a highly trusted friend of General Washington during the Revolutionary War.Mr Thompson had four children, two sons and two daughters: Ruth A Thompson, educated at the Female Seminary at Washington, Penna, and was married in 1875 to Dr J T Shepler of Dunbar; Lenora M Thompson, educated at the same institution and was married in 1873 to John A Niccolls of Uniontown; William M Thompson, graduated from Washington and Jefferson College in 1871, and resides upon the home farm of over 650 acres; Josiah V Thompson, graduated from the same institution, and at the same time as his brother. He was chosen teller in the First National Bank of Uniontown in 1872, was elected cashier in 1877, and became president of the bank
April 3, 1889.The First National Bank of Uniontown was organized in 1863, commenced business May 1, 1864, with a capital stock of $60,000 and which was increased in January 1872, to $100,000. The bank has an average annual deposit of $480,000, and now has a surplus fund of $95,000.
Its officers are: Josiah V Thompson, president; Edgar S Hackney, cashier; Francis M Semans, Jr, teller. Its directors are H H Hackney, Joseph M Campbell, D P Gibson, George W Hess, William Hunt, and J V Thompson.
Jasper M Thompson died of pneumonia at his home in Menallen township March 15, 1889. He had made a business trip to the South in February, 1889, and while there contracted a cold which soon developed into symptoms of pneumonia. By traveling almost day and night he succeeded in reaching his home, where he died upon the evening of his arrival.
He attended the old subscription schools, but the more important school from which he received his education was "the great world of active life."
He was for nearly thirty years a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church at Uniontown, of which he was an honored member for forty years. The grand secret of his success was attention to business and devotion to duty. Christian consistency and true philanthropy was the cause of his popularity and the basis of his usefulness.